It told the ABC around 40,000 students are enrolled in those fields, but adds, "we need to do more to encourage and support our next generations to engage with information and computer technologies."

The Council of Deans said it was trying hard to listen to industry, but changes to the skills required were so rapid, it was finding it hard to keep up.

"There's no limit to the amount of good people that can be used in manufacturing if they have skill, and that skill will come from immigration and more education," Mr Freedman said.

The latest unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent equates to around 700,000 people out of work.

If the 200,000 potential vacancies in the high-tech sector were filled with local workers, the jobless rate would plunge below 4 per cent and the biggest issue holding back the Australian economy, which is stagnant wages growth, would almost certainly disappear.